Feeney
Civilian
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Jun 05, 2018 3:30 am

My Hannibal is no terror

Tue Jun 05, 2018 3:43 am

Help wanted!

My first campaign as Hannibal from 219 BC on this engine and I’m slowly learning the ropes. It is terrific fun and a great game, and I really like the historical accuracy.

I would really appreciate some advice on how to get Hannibal into Italy. After getting Hannibal to Cisalpina and being joined by the Boii and Insubres, I couldn’t master how to get my army intact into either Etruria or via Ariminum.

My army was bogged down in front of Ariminum and wasn’t allowed to bypass it.

I was able to retreat, bypass Felsina and get into Etruria, but then in trying to reach Tarentum (which joined me) I was bogged down city by city, and my army starved to death while I was trapped in sieges I didn’t want.

How does an army bypass a hostile city?

Do you have to split your army, and so leave some behind to die?

Between May 217-August 216 Hannibal marched around Italy without an ally. It seems my Hannibal can’t repeat the feat.

Any advice on how many Celtic troops Hannibal should take into Italy and how many should be left behind in Cisalpina Gallia?

The map is fantastic - I would just love some tips on the best mechanism for getting Hannibal into Italy.

BTW Ebusus should be located on Ibiza, rather than on Menorca.

Leaning as I go and enjoying it heaps!

Feeney
Civilian
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Jun 05, 2018 3:30 am

Re: My Hannibal is no terror

Wed Jun 06, 2018 3:15 am

Well I finished the campaign after playing for an awesome 50 hours, and secured a minor defeat.

I held Spain throughout, fought off the Celtiberians, crushed the Tartesii uprising (securing a nice reinforcement of Turdetanian troops), defeated the Lusitani (and got the mercenaries), and the Ilergetes were awesome. Indibilis ended up being one of my finest generals.

I held Africa throughout, although defeating Syphax took longer than it should have. When the Numidian Civil War erupted late in the game I was poorly prepared for it, but the arrival of a Macedonian expeditionary force and some good efforts by Syphax meant a pretty quick win.

Interestingly, it seems the kingdom of Mauritania activated against me at the time of the civil war, although without any troops, so I ignored them.

Hasdrubal marched on Italy in 210, and in 209 was reinforced by a large Gallic force, most of which starved to death in the Alps. I had only really mastered supply by the end of the campaign ☹️

Hasdrubal kept the flames of revolt alive in Cisalpine Gaul throughout 209 to the end of the campaign, holding Taurisia, Clastidium, Mediolanum, and at brief times Placentia and Mutina, but with the remnants of the Boii and Gauls he never had the strength to resist Roman consular armies when they ploughed into the area.

I never declared war on the Veneti or Cenomani, figuring my position in Cisalpine Gaul was already fragile.

Hannibal himself was a dud in my hands. His invasion of Italy ended in 216 with his forces starving to death somewhere between Campania and Apulia. I evacuated him by sea with his officers (and no surviving men), returned him to Carthage, built another army for him to command, and tried to launch an effort in southern Italy centred on Tarentum.

This too failed. Metapontum fell, but no socii revolted (I guess Roman NM was too high), and eventually I evacuated him again, again defeated by supply.

Philip of Macedonia made an appearance, but I didn’t really know hat to do with him. I lacked the naval strength to support him attack the Illyrian cities, and in hindsight should have tried moving him to Tarentum.

Syracuse joined me around 214 and by 213 Hannibal was in Sicily. This was my main effort from 213-201, and I made slow progress. Hannibal commanded forces of 80-100,000 men, the Romans fielded armies of up to 90,000. Hannibal won a few battles (never decisively) and lost a few (never decisively), but I slowly captured everything except Messana and Panormus (which survived a 3 year siege and still held out at the games end). By this time I had mastered the supply rules, and trains of impedimentia operating from depots sustained Hannibal in Sicily.

I used my special wall breach cards in Sicily. Every time the breach was either fixed by the defenders, or my siege was interrupted by a Roman relief army, which meant that after I had driven them off, the siege started again from scratch.

Only once in the entire war did my armies get a breach on their own, Syphax versus the Massylii.

I never had the strength to take advantage of Hampsicora’s revolt in Sardinia. He held Olbia until the end.

I put a big effort into the war at sea, and so did the AI. Big fleets fought a lot of actions, I lost more than i won, the Roman fleet was always very formidable (damn the Corvus), and storms hurt me when my fleet was trying to blockade Sicilian cities. My economy spent fortunes on the navy, but never did I achieve naval superiority.

On the up side, the Romans did concentrate their fleets to contest mine, and so were largely unable to support Roman operations in Spain or Africa.

Overall, lots of fun and I can’t wait to have another crack. I just need some advice on how to get Hannibal into Italy in any kind of shape to fight a sustainable campaign in Italy!

User avatar
arsan
Posts: 6244
Joined: Tue Nov 28, 2006 6:35 pm
Location: Madrid, Spain

Re: My Hannibal is no terror

Wed Jun 06, 2018 4:40 pm

Sounds like a fun game!
Have you patched up the game? Hannibal deadlines was increased on one of the latter patchs. It's strange he didn't decisevely defeated Roman armies in your game ...

To bypass cities and enemy armies instead of getting struck on their ZOC (zone of control) you need to have at least some military control on the surrounding regions you intend to move to.

For this use your excellent light cavalry as advance guard, preparing the way for your main armies.
Sending them on offensive posture and with the evade combat order works great and it's pretty safe.
Next turn even your slow wagons will be able to bypass enemy ZOC's.

Regards!

Feeney
Civilian
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Jun 05, 2018 3:30 am

Re: My Hannibal is no terror

Thu Jun 07, 2018 12:48 am

Have you patched the game?


I bought the game just a couple of weeks ago on Steam. I assume that means I acquired the latest version?

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